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1816IIHF News from www.iifh.comTYPO3 - get.content.righthttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssFri, 31 Jul 2015 11:59:00 +0200Back to Beijinghttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9947
Olympics return to Chinese capitalBoth event hosts were decided during the 128th IOC Session held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Beijing beat out the other bid from Almaty, Kazakhstan, by a close vote of 44-40.

"I congratulate Beijing on becoming the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Games, and congratulations to Almaty for putting forth an excellent bid," said IIHF President and IOC Executive Board member René Fasel.

"Both bids were very strong but I am happy to see Beijing as the 2022 host because it gives the IIHF a great platform to promote the sport of ice hockey in Asia. Now with the next two Winter Olympics taking place in Korea and China, we have a tremendous opportunity to open up new horizons for our sport and to showcase ice hockey to a new generation.”

Beijing’s successful bid makes the city the first in history to host both a Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

“Thanks to China’s previous Olympic Games, we saw a surge in summer sports,” said Chinese Olympic Committee President Liu Peng. “Now winter sports is sweeping our nation, we have 17 ice rinks open year-round in Beijing and more than 1 million teenagers skate regularly.”

Though it has never hosted a Winter Olympics, China has in the past held other winter events including the Asian Winter Games (1996 and 2000) and the Winter Universiade (Harbin 2009).

An IIHF member since 1963, the status of China’s ice hockey teams regarding automatic host qualification is still to be determined. The men’s team has yet to qualify for an Olympic tournament, but the women’s team participated in three Winter Games in 1998, 2002, and most recently Vancouver 2010. The nation’s best result came in Nagano 1998, when the team put up big wins over Japan and Sweden in the first round, but ultimately lost 4-1 to Finland in the bronze medal game and finished in fourth place.

China’s men’s national team is 38th in the IIHF World Ranking, while the women’s team is 16th.

The Chinese presentation featured a number of sports stars such as Olympic bid Ambassador and former basketball star Yao Ming, who was shown in a video putting on pads and playing goaltender for a group of young Chinese players.

"In the 2008 Games, I played with the Chinese national team at the Wukesong Arena," said Yao. "In Beijing 2022's plan, Wukesong will host ice hockey. I look forward to seeing a new chapter in the legacy of the Olympic Games as Wukesong is covered in ice."

Andong Song, the first Chinese-born player to be drafted by the National Hockey League, was briefly introduced to the Congress by Yao. The Beijing-born forward was described as a positive example of the potential for Chinese ice hockey to grow and develop successfully.

According to the IOC Evaluation Commission report released last month, Beijing is aiming to provide an extended legacy for venues built for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It wants to develop a winter sports market for northern China with 300 million inhabitants and use the Winter Games to act as a catalyst for the further development of the tourism and winter sports industry.

Men’s and women’s ice hockey will both take place near the Olympic Park in Beijing . The men’s tournament will be held in the National Indoor Stadium (18,000 capacity) and the women’s tournament at the aforementioned Wukesong Sports Centre (9,000 capacity).

In other Olympic news, the 2020 Youth Olympic Winter Games were awarded to Lausanne, Switzerland. This will be the third-ever Youth Olympic Winter Games to be held in history, and the first time that this event will take place in Switzerland, the home of both the IIHF and the IOC.

Lausanne will follow up next year’s Winter Youth Olympics taking place in Lillehammer, Norway, which will feature three ice hockey events: a men’s and women’s ice hockey tournament and a skills challenge competition.

ADAM STEISS]]>on topWorldsOlympicsChinaFri, 31 Jul 2015 11:59:00 +0200Canada welcomes top talenthttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9946
Nation’s best young players head to summer camp“The way we do things.”

Hockey Canada’s record of winning has been well documented and, over the next couple of weeks, almost 200 of the nation’s finest young hockey players are going to get more of a sense of what it takes to be the best.

In what is a first for Hockey Canada, the organization will bring together its under-17, under-18 and under-20 programs for three separate camps under one roof at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. The National Under-17 development camp takes place July 29-Aug. 4, the National Men’s Summer Under-18 selection camp goes July 31-Aug. 4 and the National Junior Team summer development camp runs Aug. 1-6.

Put it all together and it’s called the Hockey Canada National Teams’ Summer Showcase.

“Last year, we did the Under-17s and Under-18s. And, this year, with the tournament not being hosted in Canada (the 2016 World Junior Championship takes place in Helsinki, Finland) we could do our summer camp anywhere,” says Jankowski, Hockey Canada’s director of player personnel. “We just thought that it made sense to bring our Under-20s to Calgary and have everybody together at once.

“It will be good for all of our programs to be there at the same time and see each other operate. There’s no better way to drive into an Under-17 player’s mind about the way we do things, than seeing the Under-20s do it the exact same way.”

Two of the camps are strictly about development.

The under-20 camp will bring together 40 players (three goaltenders, 13 defencemen and 24 forwards) who will take part in several practices, along with four exhibition games – two each against Czech Republic and Russia – from Aug. 1-6.

The players will then head home before hitting the ice with their respective junior and college teams for the 2015-16 season. Jankowski and others will monitor the players’ performances during the first few weeks of the season before final invites are sent for Canada’s National Junior Team selection camp in December.

Canada will go into the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship as the defending champion after winning the 2015 title on home ice in Toronto/Montreal.

“To have some carryover from winning last year just helps our program so much. It helps all three programs,” says Jankowski. “The year we had last year, winning the World Juniors, winning the men’s worlds, is obviously extremely exciting for our program in general. But the under-20s, we set a real solid standard last year for the way we won.”

The under-17 camp, meanwhile, will see 111 players split into six teams (Black, Blue, Gold, Green, Red and White) and compete in practices and a nine-game mini tournament. Of the 111 players at development camp, 66 will be chosen for one of three Canadian teams (Black, Red and White) which will participate in the 2015 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, scheduled for early November.

The under-18 athletes are the only ones who will take part in a selection camp. Forty-three players will take the ice for practices and three Red-White intrasquad games, with a team of 22 being finalized for the 2015 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup (Aug. 10-15 in Breclav, Czech Republic and Piestany, Slovakia). Canada will try and win its eighth-straight Ivan Hlinka tournament.

Back to Jankowski’s original comment about the “way we do things.” His hopes, and that of all of Hockey Canada’s brass, is that the kids coming into the program for the first time at the under-17 level will learn from the veterans, the veterans in this case being under-20 players back for a second crack at World Junior glory.

“Everything that we do with our Canadian way, our style of play, everything that we do off the ice, is all set through this camp in Calgary,” says Jankowski.

“A lot of credit goes out to all of our staff, who put all of this together, and to the players for coming in, having an open mind and be willing to learn. Even the Under-20 guys, who have been through this a couple of times with Under-17 and Under-18 and even one World Juniors … even they get to take away something from being the leaders of all the players who are coming in this summer.”

He adds that it goes beyond the athletes on the ice. The coaches and team staff members – doctors, therapists, trainers – all get to interact, learn from one another and push each other to get better.

CHRIS JUREWICZ]]>on topU20U1803 Canadaon leftWed, 29 Jul 2015 13:44:00 +0200NWHL goes globalhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9945
Fujimoto, Belyakova, Weber sign with new leagueNEW YORK – The National Women's Hockey League (NWHL)’s New York Riveters have added a third international player to its inaugural roster, signing Japanese goaltender Nana Fujimoto on Monday.

The signing comes after Fujimoto attended the NWHL's first-ever International Camp held July 23rd-26th.

Set to kick off on October 2015, the NWHL is the first Norht American professional women’s league that will pay player salaries and operate under a salary cap. Fujimoto will join two other international players on the Riveters’ roster: Russian forward Lyudmila Belyakova and forward Janine Weber from Austria.

Fujimoto, 26, has been a stalwart goalie for Japan’s senior women’s national team. She was an integral part in her country’s qualification to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. She followed up Sochi with a great performance in the 2015 Women’s World Championship Qualification Series against the Czech Republic, giving up just three goals in three games.

At the 2015 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Malmo, she earned the IIHF Directorate Best Goaltender award after posting a 93.75 save percentage a 1.52 goals-against average, and a shutout in five games.

“It's impossible not to fall in love with Nana Fujimoto," said NWHL founder and league commissioner Dani Rylan, who will also serve as general manager for the Riveters.

"She is one of the best goaltenders in the world and her sheer joy while playing is contagious to teammates and fans alike. She literally traveled across the globe to earn a spot in the NWHL and we are both honored and ecstatic to welcome a member of Smile Japan to the league."

Fujimoto’s signing comes days after the riveters picked up Lyudmila Belyakova. The 20-year-old Belyakova already boasts an extensive international resume. She competed in the top division of the 2010 and 2012 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship, and in 2011 led her team in scoring with 11 goals and 16 points in five games and the Division I U18 Worlds. At the senior level she has competed in three Women’s World Championships, the most recent coming this year at Malmo 2015.

"Belyakova is a dynamic forward with competitive international experience. She's goal-oriented and creative around the net," said Rylan, "We're excited to showcase international talent in the NWHL and hope Lyudmila is the first of many Russian players to join our league."

Internationally, Janine Weber has competed for Austria at the U18 and senior level. At the U18 Women’s Worlds in 2009 she finished second overall in scoring, and made appearances at the last five Women’s World Championship Division I tournaments, putting up 19 points in 24 games with the senior team.

At the club level Weber, 24, most recently competed with the Canadian Women’s Hockey League’s Boston Blades, scoring the overtime goal against the Montreal Stars to win the 2015 Clarkson Cup. By joining the Riveters she became the first-ever free agent signing in the history of the league.

Each NWHL team has until August 17th to complete their rosters. The NWHL season stretches from October to March, including preseason and playoffs. Each team will nine home games and nine away games.

Next year’s inaugural season will span from mid-October to March, including preseason, All-Star Weekend and playoffs. In all, players are committed to two organized practices per week and one game per weekend (nine home, nine away). The league plans to operate on income form sponsors as well as the NWHL Foundation, a a charitable arm of the NWHL that will spread awareness about and promote women's hockey through grassroots efforts.

With files from the NWHL]]>on top01 Austria10 Japan15 Russiaon leftTue, 28 Jul 2015 14:02:00 +0200Lithuania looking aheadhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9944
Senior players invest in sport's futureVIERUMAKI – Fresh off a bronze medal at the Division I Group B World Championship and with a hungry generation of young players, Lithuania is building for the future with youth development as the top priority.

A decade of playing professional hockey abroad came to an end when Mindaugas Kieras returned home to his native Lithuania in the summer of 2014. With his own playing career entering the twilight stages, he has found a way to stay involved in the game. Appointed as head of a newly-started hockey academy in the country's capital Vilnius, Kieras' future is now to nurture an increasing crop of up-and-coming players.

Checking in at his coaching role at the Hockey Punks Academy came at an exciting time for both Kieras and Lithuanian hockey. Vilnius had just a few months earlier successfully hosted the 2014 World Championships Division IB, where the homecoming of their talisman from the NHL, Dainius Zubrus had seen supporters flock to Lithuania's matches as the buzz around the sport was re-kindled.

"In 2009 we hosted our first World Championships at home and then five years later came our second one and they have both helped us," said Kieras who points at these two events as the catalyst for the increasing participating numbers. "You can see it by looking at the numbers. In the last five years we have gone from 500 kids to up to 900 in the whole of Lithuania so it is really not too bad."

With the Lithuanian Ice Hockey Federation eager to capitalise on a growing interest for the sport, the up-and-coming academy coach Kieras was hand-picked to attend the 2015 IIHF Development Camp in Vierumaki. With one full season of coaching kids at home under his belt, he jumped at the opportunity to attend the coaching programme at the Sport Institute of Finland, where five continents and 52 different countries came together.

"To be able see the fundamentals of a great hockey country like Finland has been a good step for me in my new coaching career. Working from early in the morning to nine-ten-eleven at night has been quite hard work but also a great experience and I've gathered a lot of new information during the week," said Kieras.

"Back home our coaches tend to be too serious with the kids. What I saw here in Finland was a lot of fun, but also a fine balance between fun and skills," he said.

"There were also lot of available ice time here, but still the kids would have to skate all the time and not just wait for half a minute in the the stations they were doing. The coaches were very well organised and I feel that I've improved on how to run a practise and also what I should focus on and keep on teaching the kids," he said.

Recent figures from the Lithuanian Ice Hockey Federation show that kids picking up the game in the aftermath of the 2014 World Championships Division I Group B in Vilnius has grown by 33%. Currently with eight private schools and three public hockey schools across Lithuania, the steady growth has also exposed a shortage of well-qualified coaches, which the Lithuanian Ice Hockey Federation is keen to address.

Kieras is now back in Vilnius working on new ideas to implement at the Hockey Punks Academy. With its eye-catching name and red and white logotype, Hockey Punks is a well-established name in Lithuanian hockey circles where the senior team also competes in the national championship.

With 17 and 18 World Championships respectively under their belt, Kieras together with his close friend Sarunas Kuliesius are sharing various coaching duties at Hockey Punks while still suiting up for the senior team. Two other former national team players, Arturas Katulis and Andrius Jadkauskas, are head of their own respective private hockey schools in Vilnius, which gives the youth development in the capital an extra competitive edge.

But also beyond the bright lights of the capital work is well underway to boost the popularity of the game and spread its frontiers. Siauliai, 212 kilometer northwest of Vilnius is one such example. Following sports studies and the inauguration of a full-sized rink in the town of 133,900 people, Aurimas Jokimcius opened a hockey school in his hometown five years ago. Now managing the academy with 30 kids from the ages up until 12, the condition are somewhat different to that of the capital.

"I don't know if there is any big difference between our schools as such, but Vilnius is big city and they have many Russian people living there so it's easier to find kids. We don't have any tradition of hockey in my town so it's hard to get kids involved," said Jokimcius who also attended the IIHF Development camp in Vierumaki taking part in the Learn to Play Instructor program.

"The camp in Vierumaki has given me a lot. Out on the ice we have to start working in stations during our training, and I will also try to use most of things I've picked up in Vierumaki about recruitment, and also make more use of parents because I haven't use them enough yet," said Jokimcius, who also hopes that the appointment of a coach from Latvia, Vladimirs Parhomenko, can further improve the coaching of the youngsters and also with time also see teams from Siauliai play in the Latvian championship.

With the first anniversary soon looming for the newly started Hockey Punks Academy, Kieras can feel pleased with his contribution so far.

"I think we are doing good. We have got 54 kids, and we practise four times a week. What is unusual for Lithuania is that we got 40 kids who are the same age, so hopefully we can build a team and keep them until the age of 12-15," said Kieras who also sees a number of positive changes in the Lithuanian hockey landscape compared to when he first left the country in 2002 for Nemad Grodno in neighbouring Belarus.

"We got some structure in place in Lithuania now. We know how to run programs such as U10 up until U16 and we got people who every two weeks sit together to talk and find solutions to various problems in Lithuanian hockey. I think when you got that, then everyone is clear of what is going in the country," he said.

"Even with our national team I see a change. The young players who step up now make a difference right away. Before you had to play them for five years before they really become second or third line players. During our last World Championships in the Netherlands also our fourth line players scored goals and played a big part in our bronze medal, so you can see the difference."

"Another good thing is that ex-players are getting back into hockey now. People now know there is hockey in Lithuania and they know that joining the hockey community in Lithuania can make you become a good sportsman," said Kieras.

HENRIK MANNINEN

]]>on topWorldsMenLithuaniaon leftMon, 27 Jul 2015 09:28:00 +0200Learn to teachhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9943
Puck-stopping Pretoria teenager breaks new groundVIERUMAKI - He represented South Africa at three separate World Championships last season, but 17-year-old Marcello Strydom is finding himself wrestling with the decision of whether goaltending or coaching is his true calling.

For anyone having watched South Africa's national team in action during the last decade, the presence of the Bock brothers guarding their net can hardly have gone unnoticed. Ashley and Gary, a man-mountain pair of siblings, each of them towering up on both sides of the two-metre mark while weighing being well above 100 kilos, have given the epithet of parking the bus in front of goal a new meaning.

At 185 cm, Marcello Strydom will never measure up to the Bock brothers’ lofty height, but appears to be well underway in carving out a name for himself in his own right. Not only did the 17-year-old step out on the ice to represent South Africa at U18, U20 and senior level at the World Championships last year, but also still found time to attend school and blaze a new trail as a coach for the next generation of South African netminders.

"There has never truly been a goalie coach in South Africa and as I didn't think there was any interest in goalies I decided it shouldn't be like that," said the teenage Pretoria Capitals-prospect on how his interest arose for coaching his own peers.

"I only truly started with this last year, but since I started to coach when turning 17 I have doubled the amount of goalies in South Africa, which is why they at the South African Ice Hockey Association thought that maybe it would be a good idea that I should come to the camp in Vierumaki."

Having ventured overseas for goalie camps in Minnesota, USA twice in the past, he arrived in Finland last month for the 2015 IIHF Development camp to further his repertoire and skills in coaching netminders.

"Before coming here to Finland I asked our national team coaches of their expectations of sending me to a camp where I would be learning not to coach goalies, but to coach other coaches to become goalie coaches,” he said. "So being able to learn more about being a coach of a coach did sound interesting so I was well up for the challenge,"

Strydom sums up his Vierumaki-experience from the 2015 Development camp as follows:

"I must say that I am extremely pleased with how the coaches here in Vierumaki love hockey and try to take things into a different light," he said. "The facilities here are amazing, everyone is helpful and every single thing that I learn here is knowledge that I can take back home and see what can be applied at our country's situation. I can start small, develop the minds of both players and parents to let them understand what it is to be a goalie and to be a goalie coach then they would end up falling in love with the game too just like I once did.”

Hailing from Pretoria, the country's administrative capital, Strydom grew up across town of the aforementioned Bock-brothers, who over the years have played an integral part as the last line of defence for South Africa. While the older of the two, Gary, guarded the net for his country at World Championships between 2003-10, it is the younger brother, 27-year-old Ashley, who made his debut at the 2005 World Championships and is still going strong and who was singled out for special praise by Strydom as a big influence in his own development.

"When I started playing , Gary, was by then already growing out of hockey so he did not really coach or anything. Ashley is a great goalie and it is wonderful to see that this tall giant over two meters is the friendliest guy in the world. Everytime I saw him at the rink when I was growing up he gave me hints that would helped me improve my game," he said.

Strydom's week-long stint in Vierumaki comes in the wake of a hectic season for the 17-year old. Being first choice for South Africa's U20 team at the World Championship, Division III in New Zealand this year, he later went to Chinese Taipei as a back-up for Charl Pretorius at the U18 World Championships, Division III Group A. In the spring, a phone call put him on course for a hat-trick of World Championships in less than four months.

"I was away with the U18 team when I got a call and got asked if I would be able to make it for the senior national team who were about to play at the World Championship in Cape Town. I said that I would love that, but they would need to ask my parents first," said Strydrom.

He got the green light from back home and accepted the last-minute call-up for a place at the 2015 World Championship Division II Group B, which took place on on home ice and was a dream come true for Strydom at such a tender age.

"I practise with the men's national team most of the year, but still I did not expect to get any playing time, so when I got the chance to go on the ice it was an amazing experience," said Strydom who made his senior World Championship debut in Cape Town's Grandwest Ice Arena, playing just under 28 minutes against Israel and conceding one goal in a 6-3 loss.

Despite South Africa being relegated and now having to try to bounce back in next year's Division III, Strydom sings the praises of the national team's coaching duo of Bob Mancini and Louis Melone, who encouraged the teenage netminder to further dedicate himself to try and raise the bar in the country's development of goalies.

"Bob and Louis are really passionate coaches and it was they who convinced me to come over here to Vierumaki. We are starting to develop young goalies now and if they progress well, we will also send them and more coaches over here to Finland," said Strydom who was joined in Vierumaki by another promising netminder from South Africa with Ryan Boyd was taking part in the Development Camp as a player.

Now in his last year at school, Strydom is set to continue with the subject of goaltending on the schedule for years to come. But asking him which one of coaching or playing it is that he prefers clearly puts him into a dilemma.

"Now, that is a tough one. I can't pick between those two" he said. "Maybe in a few years if playing doesn't work out I will say coaching, but right now I love them both way too much."

HENRIK MANNINEN

]]>on topWorlds2015 HDCon topSouth Africaon lefton rightFri, 24 Jul 2015 17:40:00 +0200Making the gradehttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9942
Japanese NHL hopeful in camp with IslandersLONG ISLAND – One of the headlines from the recent 2015 NHL draft was the selection of Chinese player Andong Song by the New York Islanders, the first Chinese-born hockey player to be chosen in the NHL Entry Draft. But he’s not the only prospect coming out of the Far East. Japanese forward Yuri Terao joined Song at the Islanders' 2015 minicamp held earlier this month.

Terao is one of the top young forwards in Japanese hockey. In his first IIHF tournament he was selected as Directorate Best Forward at the 2013 IIHF U18 World Championship Division I Group B after putting up 11 points and a +6 rating. In his first year with the Asia League’s Nikko Ice Bucks Terao notched 17 points last season, including ten goals in 29 games, and followed that up with a seven-point performance in three games at the IIHF U20 Challenge Cup of Asia.

He was invited to the Islanders’ minicamp in 2014 and is back once more this summer. IIHF.com caught up with the 20-year-old to get his take on the experience.
At which age did you start to play hockey, where and why?

I was three-years-old and started in my hometown of Tochigi, Japan. My father and brother played ice hockey and they are the ones that got me into it. How would you compare hockey in Japan to other countries like in the U.S.?

It’s pretty different, especially in terms of the level of hockey, the environment, the sport’s popularity and the media attention that the players receive. How was the adjustment for you when you joined the Asia League in this past season?

Right away I had to work on increasing my weight by lifting and working out. This was the first step for me if so that I could play well in Asia League, the level is of course much higher than in high school hockey.What is your day-to-day life playing with the Nikko Ice Bucks? Aside from practice what do you like to do in yours free time.

We have on-ice practice from 9:30-11:30 am, off ice practice from 3:00-4:00 pm and my own individual practice in my backyard from 6:00-7:00 pm. In my spare time I like to go fishing.Is there anything from Japan you miss in the U.S.?

Probably speaking Japanese since my English is not so good yet.What’s your favourite food in Japan?

Ramen(noodle)In 2013 you were the best player of the U18 World Championship Division I Group B in Poland. How was it for you to play in such a tournament?

Playing against countries with so many talented players made me realize that I would have to play much harder so that my team could win. I was able to step up my game, and though we didn’t win the tournament we played well and I managed to be selected as top forward. How did you feel when you were invited to the Islanders’ camp?

Last year, I was excited for the opportunity to show myself to the Islanders. This year, I was a bit more relaxed because I thought I had a good camp last year and thought I would be invited again.How is it for you at camp this year?

Since this is my second one, I knew what was coming and what to do. No cultural shock but the language barrier is something I still find hard.What are the differences in practice styles and hockey skills between this camp and what you was used to back in Japan?

Making passes and receiving passes are much more accurate than Japan. I also think players at the camp have more passion about hockey than Japanese players. Where do you feel you need to improve to be a top prospect?

I have to learn more systems, and know what to do when I don't have the puck. Also learning more English.There are several Asian players at NHL camps this summer. What do you think about this?

I think it is good and that more Asian players should take the challenge to come to North America and Europe to gain more experience. Which players are your idols? Do you follow top-level hockey?

I like Lionel Messi (soccer). I don’t follow NHL players because I believe I will become a NHL player one day. I do follow the NHL though.What are your goals for the next season and for the next few years?

I want to avoid injury this season because I had a few this past season. I’m not seeing a few years from now, I just want to play hard every day and I believe that this will take me to where I want to be eventually.-compiled by IIHF.com staff

]]>on topIIHFWorlds10 Japanon lefton rightThu, 23 Jul 2015 11:28:00 +0200Hockey camp kicks off in Koreahttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9941
Asia gets a boost with Hockey Together programSEOUL – From July 20 to 27, Korea University will play host to more than 150 hockey-mad athletes and officials from seven countries, as part of the country’s Hockey Together program. Their mission? To eat, sleep, and dream hockey.

Coming from India, Malaysia, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Korea, the participants will undergo a week of intensive hockey training. Alongside these players and officials are a group of dedicated instructors. The instructors come from all levels of hockey, and are ready to share knowledge and exchange experiences with the participants. National Program Director Jim Paek will be a special instructor for the camp. Other notable instructors include Jiri Fischer, who played for the Detroit Red Wings his entire NHL career.

The purpose of this camp is to foster close ties and develop the game among the invited countries, who are members in good standing with the Korea Olympic Committee. It also has the added purpose of promoting the sport in view of the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games.

Click here to view Hockey Together's Facebook page

As the name of the camp implies, Hockey Together is all about development. There are six programs at the camp, providing participants with a structure that is conducive to learning. The development programs are focused on players, coaches, goalie coaches, team and equipment managers, and game officials. It is in many ways modeled after the annual IIHF Development Camp held in Vierumaki, Finland, and a number of staff from that camp made the trip to Korea to help out.

Camp participants are male players born between 1997 and 2001. One way the camp is trying to ensure that players in this age group retain their interest in ice hockey careers is to develop coaches that can instill positive values into a player or a team.

For this purpose Hockey Together is hoping to assist coaches in developing their skills in hockey knowledge or management. Moreover, increasingly teams are seeking the services of a goalie coach, a need for many of the participating nations that the program is also hoping to address.

Just like goalie coaches, equipment and team managers are often overlooked as well. The programs at this camp will allow for more knowledge to be shared among this group of managers. Lastly, the game official program is customized to ensure that all officiating needs are met.

Aside from the week-long training and competition, the foreign participants will be taken on a sightseeing trip on their day off. Once the participants return to their home country, it is the hope of the organizers that they share the knowledge gained at the camp with others in their country. The Hockey Together camp is made possible with support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea, the Korea Olympic Committee, Korea University, and the Korea Ice Hockey Association.

With files from Hockey Together

]]>on topOlympics10 JapanChinaChinese TaipeiDPR KoreaKoreaMalaysiaSingaporeSerbiaWed, 22 Jul 2015 13:28:00 +0200Ready for actionhttp://www.iihfworlds2016.com/en/news/ready-for-action/
Moscow’s new Ice Palace gets Worlds, Dynamo The impressive new venue, which has three rinks under a single roof and seats 12,000 spectators in its biggest arena, staged a soft opening back in April with the second edition of Russia’s ‘Legends Cup’ for veterans. Now it’s full speed ahead to be ready for pre-season in August, the upcoming KHL season and ultimately the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

Vladimir Myshkin, a double Olympian, was among the players who suited up for the April event – and he was excited by what he saw of the new arena even though the finishing touches were still to be applied.

“The arena is shaping up to be the best hockey facility in Europe,” he told ITAR-TASS. “It’s not all ready yet, but nowhere else has three ice sheets under one roof, with two of them multifunctional. Compared with the Globe in Stockholm or the Hartwall in Helsinki, ours is a few steps ahead of them. That’s normal, time doesn’t stand still and in a few years there will be new, even more modern arenas.”

Myshkin’s old team, Dynamo Moscow, will be based at the Ice Palace from the start of the coming season. The arena will stage two pre-season tournaments, including the tradition Mayor of Moscow Cup, before the KHL campaign gets underway on 24th August. And according to the veteran goalie, Harijs Vitolins and his players can look forward to a good playing experience.

“The ice is high quality and it was a pleasure to play on it,” Myshkin added. “We had a decent crowd in for the [veterans’] games and the spectator areas are well designed. The lighting, the video screens... it all makes for a great arena.”

As well as top-level hockey, the new facility is also capable of staging concerts and other big sporting events. CSKA Moscow’s basketball team is planning to play its Euroleague games there next season, moving from its traditional home near the CSKA ice arena on Leningradski Prospekt.

The new Ice Palace stands in a district of Moscow once synonymous with limousines for party bigwigs and now hopes to see Russia’s Red Machine cruise into top gear when it hosts December’s Channel One Cup and May’s World Championship. The Ice Palace is the centrepiece of the new Legends Park complex to the south-east of the city centre. The project will also include the first Hall of Fame devoted to Russian and Soviet hockey, as well as an entertainment and residential complex built on the site of the former ZiL car plant on Avtozavodskaya Ulitsa, about a 10-minute walk from the Avtozavodskaya metro station.

That Hall of Fame is due to open by the end of 2015 and promises to mirror its more famous counterpart in Toronto. Its exhibitions will focus on the development of hockey in the USSR and Russia from its first steps in 1946 to its current status as a definitive symbol of national sporting prowess. At its heart will be a display dedicated to the members of the Russian Hockey Hall of Fame, a project initiated during last year’s Olympic Winter Games in Sochi when the first 146 members were formally inducted.

According to Myshkin the museum will be a treasure trove for lovers of Russian hockey. “We’ve waited a long time for a museum like this,” he told Sovietski Sport. “At last there will be a place where fans can come and plunge headlong into hockey’s history. It’s a place where the whole family can explore together.”

Although the focus of the Hall of Fame is firmly on the development of Soviet and Russian hockey, it is possible that foreign stars will also appear there. “In time we could see foreigners who achieve fame in the KHL introduced,” Myshkin added. “After all, it’s an international league. But to start with we want to pay tribute to our masters.”

Dynamo’s move to the new venue frees up the Blue-and-Whites’ old Luzhniki home, which is expected to be adopted by the reborn Spartak Moscow team in the coming season. It also spells the end for plans to bring the hockey team into the planned ‘Dynamo Park’ complex currently under development on the site of Dynamo’s historic football stadium. Meanwhile, CSKA Moscow is also forging ahead with plans to build a purpose-built hockey venue of its own at Krylatskoye, to the north-west of the city close to the rowing and cycling venues from the 1980 Olympics.

Meanwhile work is also underway to upgrade the Yubileiny rink in St. Petersburg for use as the secondary venue at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. The 7,000-seater arena has been selected due to its convenient central location and the hope that an upgraded rink will help to further promote hockey in Russia’s northern capital. Opposed to SKA St. Petersburg’s arena, Yubileiny also has two ice sheets. The arena also staged games when St. Petersburg last hosted the Worlds back in 2000.

ANDY POTTS]]>on topWorldsMen15 Russiaon lefton rightTue, 21 Jul 2015 08:30:00 +0200Zubov joins Znarokhttp://www.iihfworlds2016.com/en/news/zubov-joins-znarok/
Former national player named assistant coach Zubov will help the national team in their preparation for the next IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships including the 2016 edition on home ice in Moscow and St. Petersburg, for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

He will specifically be responsible for defencemen and will combine his duties with the national team and his club team SKA St. Petersburg.

The 44-year-old Moscow native started his career with CSKA Moscow in the Soviet league and represented the Soviet Union in three World Junior Championships and one European U18 Championship.

In his first big tournament with the men’s national team the defenceman won Olympic gold with the Unified Team in Albertville 1992. The same year he played at the World Championship before moving to the New York Rangers.

He played in the NHL for 16 seasons winning two Stanley Cups (Rangers 1994, Dallas Stars 1999) and represented Russia in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. He was on the ice during 1,068 NHL regular-season games (152 goals, 619 assists) and 164 playoff games (24 goals, 93 assists).

Zubov ended his career after the 2009/2010 season for SKA St. Petersburg and a severe injury that forced him to announce his retirement after missing the whole 2010/2011 season.

In 2011/2012 he joined the coaching staff of SKA St. Petersburg for a year before working for CSKA Moscow during two seasons before returning to St. Petersburg in 2014.]]>on leftWorldsMen15 Russiaon rightMon, 20 Jul 2015 15:15:00 +0200New U20 coach for Germanyhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9938
Former national goalie Kunast takes overThe 44-year-old will take over from Pat Cortina, who last season coached both the men’s and U20 national teams.

The former goaltender represented Germany at the 1991 IIHF World Junior Championship B-Pool, at the 2001 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship on home ice and the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

“With the restructuring and the rejuvenation of the coaching staff we implement a central point of our concept Powerplay 26,” said Franz Reindl, the President of the German Ice Hockey Association.

“I’m glad about my new tasks. It will be some tough work. Our short-term goal is to earn promotion back to the top division as fast as possible,” said Kunast, who played in the top German league for 13 years for his hometown team Landshut, Rosenheim, Kaufbeuren, Mannheim, Munich, Hamburg and Hanover.

Later he worked as an assistant coach of DEL team Hanover Scorpions, as a head coach of second-tier team Hanover Indians and most recently as junior coach at EHC Straubing.

He already got to know many potential candidates for the 2016 roster when coaching the German U19 national team at the end of the last season. The U20 national team will soon kick off a summer training camp, which will include two games against host Switzerland and one against Belarus in Arosa.

At the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division I Group A in Vienna, the Germans are aiming at promotion against Norway, Latvia, Italy, host Austria and Kazakhstan. The winner of the tournament will qualify for the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto, Canada.

The German Ice Hockey Association also hired Stefan Schaidnagel for the newly created position as a Federal Coach for Science and Education. Former U20 national coach Ernst Hofner will continue as coach for club and prospects development, youth hockey operations and player development.

Rick Bohm and Thomas Schadler will coach the U18 men’s national team next year while Benjamin Hinterstocker will continue with the women’s national team and Tommy Kettner with the U18 women’s national team.